was married to jockey Jeff Anderson in 1981 and remained with him until her death. On June 10, 1982, Bacon went down in a spill at Golden Gate Fields in Northern California. She was unconscious and bleeding from the head when she was taken to the hospital. Preliminary examinations indicated a serious head injury and she remained unconscious for eight days. Suicide In pain from lingering riding injuries and cervical cancer, Bacon committed suicide at the age of 43 by self-inflicted gunshot in a motel in Fort Worth, Texas, on June 7, 1991, the eve of the Belmont Stakes. While discovered shortly after the gun was discharged, she died in the early morning hours of June 8 at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. Sixteen days later, her body was returned to New York and Belmont Park, where she had enjoyed much of her early success. Her cremated ashes were spread over the grave of Ruffian, perhaps the greatest female Thoroughbred in history. See also List of jockeys Thoroughbred horse racing Notes References People May 19, 1975 "A Fiery Speech, a Burning Cross—and Jockey Mary Bacon Reveals She Belongs to the Klan" People April 15, 1974 "Mary Bacon Is Queen of the Turf" Dallas Morning News September 29, 1991 "Mary Bacon Ran Out Of Rides" Beaver County Times November 6, 1974 "The Ups and Downs of Mary Bacon" Los Angeles Times June 21, 1991 "Mary Bacon: Different to the End" Stars & Stripes November 11, 1978 "Jockey Mary Bacon has winning image" Time April 1, 1974 "People" Time January 31, 1977 "Sport: King of the 'Bug Boys'" The New York Times June 11, 1982 "Mary Bacon Hurt" New York Daily News July 31, 1991 "Riding was life, and death, for Bacon" 1948 births 1991 suicides American female jockeys Suicides by firearm in Texas Sportspeople from Toledo, Ohio American Ku Klux Klan members